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Three Strangers (1946) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
7.0/10   434 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 65% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
John Huston (original screenplay)
Howard Koch (original screenplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for Three Strangers on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
28 January 1946 (USA) more
Genre:
Tagline:
BREATHTAKING SUSPENSE - THRILLS! (original ad - all caps)
Plot:
Three strangers, each with a serious problem in their lives, share a sweepstakes ticket which they wished upon together before a Chinese idol. full summary | full synopsis
User Comments:
Another dusky Huston jewel.... more (19 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Sydney Greenstreet ... Jerome K. Arbutny

Geraldine Fitzgerald ... Crystal Shackleford

Peter Lorre ... Johnny West
Joan Lorring ... Icey Crane
Robert Shayne ... Bertram Fallon
Marjorie Riordan ... Janet Elliott
Arthur Shields ... Prosecutor
Rosalind Ivan ... Lady Rhea Beladon
John Alvin ... Junior Clerk
Peter Whitney ... Timothy Delaney aka Gabby
Alan Napier ... David Shackleford
Clifford Brooke ... Senior Clerk
Doris Lloyd ... Mrs. Proctor
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Additional Details

Runtime:
92 min
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound System)
Certification:
Finland:S | Spain:18 | USA:Approved (PCA #10762, Adult Audience) | Sweden:15

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
John Huston was inspired to write the story after he bought an odd statue in London. more
Quotes:
Johnny West: We are but strangers on this moving globe; it's not for us to tarry long. more
Soundtrack:
Waltz in A Flat Major, Op. 39 more

FAQ

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8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful.
Another dusky Huston jewel...., 8 October 2004
7/10
Author: Eddie Falco from A skootch NW of Hollywood, USA

It was over 20 years ago that I first encountered this small cinematic treasure, on the now-defunct indie KHJ-TV, channel 9 in Los Angeles, but it was not at all by accident. Having been enthralled by the magic that is "Casablanca" some years before, I had been seeking out other films like it made by Warner Bros. in the late 30s, 40s and early 50s. Specifically I was after more work by that classic's storied supporting cast: Paul Henried, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Claude Rains, S.Z. Sakall and Joy Page, among others.

"Three Strangers" gathers two of those and weaves them into a unexpectedly amoral tale of the cost of reversing fortune. Lorre plays a fallen gentleman who fallen into a bottle and thus into some dicey company, while Greenstreet plays a solicitor who's been a tad too speculative with his trust accounts. The underregarded Geraldine Fitzgerald joins them as the mysterious woman who randomly gathers the other two off a London street to see if they'll take a chance on an ancient Chinese proverb coming true.

"Three Strangers" if anything goes "Casablanca" and that other Huston/Lorre/Greenstreet classic, "The Maltese Falcon," one better in the world-weariness department, with moral ambiguities and ambivalent characters straight out of films noir made five years later. Unlike those other two films, though, there's little likability to be found in the lead characters' roguishness --- save perhaps for Lorre, who gets redeemed by a "good" woman's love at the end.

Yet that very fact makes "Three Strangers" play out like a much more modern film (like one from the early 1970s, say), rendering it an intriguing admixture of old-style character-driven plotting and contemporary moral waywardness and antiheroism.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Three Strangers (1946)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
huston loved those statuettes howlinkingcrawdad
peter lorre was hot! mcrawford-4
Janet... Tim-O-T
finding copy of three strangers jvhart
'A good night of drinking....' captgwg
URGENT: It's on TCM on 3.11.08 at 11:00AM!!!! john_arbolino
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